On July 29, LIVE on Showtime, Emelianenko will try to rebound from back-to-back losses as he faces Henderson, who holds the Strikeforce light heavyweight title, and Coenen will defend her 135-pound women’s title against Tate.

Notable Quotes

Dan Henderson:

“He’s [Fedor] dangerous whenever he’s in shape, out-of-shape, doesn’t matter, he’s still real dangerous. I just need to be careful out there and implement my game plan.”

“Against Werdum, he [Fedor] got a little cocky with his submission defense thinking he wouldn’t get submitted. Everybody can get caught I guess. Against Silva, he was a little bit out of shape and the size definitely got to him. Silva just hung out on top of him and didn’t let him move that whole second round.”

“I think anybody that has their back to the wall and comes out with two losses like that is definitely more dangerous, but he’s still going to be trying to hit me with the same punches if he’d won his last two fights.”

“I don’t know [who has the better right hand]. I guess we’ll find out in a little over a week.”

“I have no plans of going anywhere. I would like to defend that Strikeforce belt and go from there.”

“I always try to go out there and be exciting and finish the fight.”

Fedor Emelianenko:

“Of course it would be a very important victory. Dan Henderson has been a fighter for a very long time and a champion in many different organizations. For me it is very important. It would mean a lot to me.”

“For me what’s most important is to be a master in the sport and to be at the top of my game is always important.”

“No everything is just as before. We are preparing for him [Henderson] just as the same as before.”

“I don’t know [how much longer I will fight]. That is God’s will. We’ll fight our next fight and after that we’ll see.”

“I never really felt I had any special talent. I just tried it out, kept winning and kept going with it. … Certainly I feel God has blessed me with the ability to do what I do.”

“Right now I’m just thinking about this fight. After this fight we’ll sit down and figure out what the next move is.”

“No absolutely not. It [losing two fights in a row] has not affected my confidence at all. If God has given us a certain path for my life, then I have to go down that path and feel confident about it.”

“I don’t know [if I will retire if I lose]. We’ll see. Everything will be known after the fight. It’s better to talk about that and answer that question after the fight.”

“One thing that I’ve learned is that I know I thank God for all of my successes and all of my failures, all of my good times and all of my bad times. And the one thing that I’ve learned is that I’m thankful to him for all that he’s given to me and those are the lessons I take from that.”

“Like an Orthodox Christian fighter. That is how I’d like people to remember me.”

Miesha Tate:

“He [Dana White] doesn’t know enough about women’s MMA to really make a judgment call about it at this point, and with the purchase of Strikeforce he’s going to be paying closer attention to it.”‘

“It hasn’t been a year since I fought. I do that daily with men in the gym.”

“I don’t feel like come fight time there will be much of a weight difference. I put on a little weight myself and I feel really healthy and competitive at 135.”

Marloes Coenen:

“You can imagine this [takedown defense] has been a big part of my training, but we have also been working on my ground game and my stand up. I have been sparring with a lot of wrestlers too so I hope it pays off next Saturday.”

“Scott saw something in me and he gave me a second chance to fight for another title in one year and I won the title. And that was a title I really worked for.”

About Jack Bratcher

Founder and Editor of Pro MMA Now (www.prommanow.com) and staff writer at ADCC (www.adcombat.com). My all-time favorite TV show is The Sopranos and the first book I ever bought was on Astral Projection. I still occasionally roll around on a skateboard and play Xbox One. Reach me at prommanow@gmail.com or on Twitter at @PROMMA.